COOPERSTOWN _ The Otsego County Board of Representatives has agreed to help fund a ``state of the lake" report for Canadarago Lake to be overseen by the county's Soil and Water District.
The report is considered a precursor to projects meant to alleviate periodic flooding at the lake, which lies at the intersection of Richfield, Exeter and Otsego. The document is slated to cost $38,000, of which the county will pay $12,500, and may be prepared by the State University College at Oneonta's Biological Field Station.
Rep. James Johnson, R-Otsego, asked his peers to support the measure, saying, ``The folks around Canadarago Lake have suffered long enough from flooding.''
Reps. Sam Dubben, R-Middlefield, and Donald Lindberg, R-Worcester, abstained because they serve on the Soil and Water District's board of directors.
Rep. Stephen Fournier, R-Milford, voted against the project; all other board members voted for it.
The flooding has been a problem since the 1960s, when a dam was placed on the lake's outlet stream, slowing the release of water from the lake. Over the years, silt has built up near the outlet, and it may need to be dredged.
In other business at Wednesday's meeting, board members listened via speaker telephone to a presentation by Courtney Forrester of the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives on how the county could monitor, then reduce, energy consumption and emissions.
Among measures she suggested were better insulation of buildings and improvements to the county's transportation system. The presentation was overseen by Rep. Richard Murphy, D-Oneonta.
Later in the meeting, a majority of members decided not to vote Wednesday on whether to join the organization, whose members include the city of Oneonta and village of Cooperstown.
ä Heard from Dubben, chairman of the county's labor negotiations committee, that no meeting between the county and the Civil Service Employees Association is scheduled. The county and union have been attempting to negotiate a new contract for more than a year. The previous contract expired Dec. 31, 2006.
ä Authorized board Chairman James Powers, R-Butternuts, to execute a contract to accept $335,440 from the state Office of Homeland Security to upgrade and replace telecommunications equipment.
The resolution specifies that $21,840 will be used to relocate equipment; $268,800 will pay for ``pre-constructed'' equipment shelters; and $44,800 will go for alterations, renovations and site preparation.
ä Agreed to loan $13,500 for five years at 4 percent interest to Joan and John Ambrose, doing business as the Independence Machine and Tool Co.
The funds come from the county's revolving loan program.
